I. Field
The present invention relates generally to communication, and more specifically to techniques for transmitting and receiving notifications for broadcast and multicast services in a communication system.
II. Background
A communication system may provide unicast, multicast, and/or broadcast services. A unicast service provides point-to-point communication between at least one base station and a specific wireless device. A multicast service provides point-to-multipoint communication between at least one base station and a group of wireless devices. A broadcast service provides point-to-multipoint communication between at least one base station and all wireless devices within a designated broadcast area. Some examples of multicast and broadcast services include news and data services, subscription-based services, push-to-talk, and so on. Multicast and broadcast services may send data to wireless devices sporadically, periodically, or continuously.
The communication system may need to send signaling (e.g., control information, configuration information, and so on) for the broadcast and multicast services supported by the system. This signaling may be sent on a control channel. A wireless device receiving one or more services would then monitor the control channel for signaling sent for the service(s) being received. The wireless device may operate in an idle state whenever it is not actively exchanging data with one or more base stations in the system. In the idle state, the wireless device wakes up periodically to receive page messages and overhead messages from the system and powers down as much circuitry as possible in the remaining time in order to conserve battery power. It is highly desirable for the wireless device, while it is awake, to somehow be informed of any signaling being sent on the control channel for the service(s) being received. The wireless device would then be able to receive both pertinent messages for itself and signaling for the service(s) being received without expending too much battery power.
There is therefore a need in the art for techniques to send notifications for signaling sent for broadcast and multicast services.